Lost in Space is awesomely Curbside Splendor $5 books winter haul indeed.

$5 books! TY @CurbsidePress for my winter haul! @ambernoelle @meganstielstra @BenTanzer @carrielorig @frankielliot pic.twitter.com/B3cOdndttY

— Danaë Aurora Fuentes (@wnDEEctyprtty) December 16, 2015

This list Lost in Space is, yo.

For real. So, fuck genre distinctions indeed. And big thanks to the Wendy C. Ortiz for all of it.

Bad at Sports podcast we are.

We are long-time Bad at Sports fanboys, not to mention one-time interviewers there of, and being on their podcast might be more than a thrill, it might even be biblical. We are also quite appreciative for the opportunity to talk Orphans, Lost in Space, The New York Stories, Curbside Splendor, This Podcast Will Change Your Life and so much more. So we hope you dig it, and that it changes your life, if only for a moment at that.  

Lost in Space is having a moment! Clayton Smith rules! Readers win!

And even more here. So do hit it. Thank you.

Lost in Space is 2015 Devil's Kitchen Literary Festival Nonfiction Prose Award. It is also the Allison Joseph, Jon Tribble, David Tomas Martinez, Lisa Fay Coutley and celebratory Death's Door Gin from the family.

Manny's Lost in Space The New York Stories Orphans Tacos Doughnuts Hypertext Magazine Interview.

There is The New York Stories. There is Lost in Space. There is Manny's. And there is definitely much appreciated interview with the Christine Rice. Excerpt? Totally.

CR: You mentioned how hard it was when Lost in Space came out and didn’t get the reviews you’d thought it might. And how your writing momentum seemed to stall. You said that you might have horizontal momentum. Can you talk a little bit about that?

BT: Might might even be strong, but I was hoping for something, and maybe even desperate for a certain kind of response, because my prior book Orphans, had received reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist, but what’s important there – and something I needed to pay closer attention to later – is that I thought if I garnered those kinds of reviews, other things might happen – agents might call, or books festivals – which on paper is embarrassing to even say, but I thought those things could happen, and they didn’t, and so I thought, maybe the next one, I’ll get those kinds of reviews again, and it will compound in some fashion, but then Lost in Space while well received, was ignored by the trade publications, which was really hard, and left me wondering where that left the act of creating books for me? The act of writing, the ideas, the compulsion and desire to write, never stalls, but building some kind of presence, or at least the act of getting there, can feel like it has. I thought I was building towards something slowly, book by book, but I may not be, and so I’m working on being more Zen about all of it regardless.

And now for that thing that we couldn't tell you about that other time - Lost in Space is the 2015 Devil's Kitchen Reading Award winner in Prose Nonfiction. It is also in quite fine company. And we're fairly certain we saw a unicorn today. Now, back to the Cubs.

"I was sad, but only because it came to an end." Lost in Space. Goodreads. Sadness. Goodness. And appreciations.

All of that. And an excerpt. Cool? Word.

"Having recently become a parent--is fifteen months still recent? Fifteen months!? Jesus--having somewhat recently become a father, this book was exactly what I needed. It unnerved me, comforted me, made me laugh."

Lost in Space Twitter hype there is.

thanks to @BenTanzer for reading at the @TheGeekyPress event tonight, excited to read this! pic.twitter.com/TdQ1pdpmyb

— erik fox (@erik_fox) July 16, 2015

"True to life." Lost in Space is quite lovely and much appreciated pre- The New York Stories release party and Father's Day review at the Gaper's Block Book Club.

All of that, yes. Excerpt? Word.

"Throughout the book we get a sense of Tanzer as a father who is writing while juggling parenthood, marriage, a job, and his social life. He directly speaks to the reader, sharing his most intimate feelings and letting us in on the minutiae of his day-to-day life. We know he is a runner, a worrier, a loving father, and a dedicated writer. He leaves nothing out, sharing even his personal fears and insecurities, about parenting and writing both. We see this done in the essay Anatomy of a Story, in which Tanzer wrestles with how to write about a surgical procedure undergone by his son. The original intent was to fictionalize the diagnosis into something more visceral for the reader. Yet, ultimately he tells it true to life, demonstrating his authority and authenticity as a writer and a parent." 

That time that thing happened that we can't quite tell you about yet.

The New York Stories (and friends) is Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap, yo.

"Captured by its wonderful essence." Lost in Space has been Cyn Vargas'd. And for a moment anyway, the world became just a little bit brighter.

Indeed. Brighter. Much. Excerpt? Word.

"I bought this book as a Father's Day gift for my husband who absolutely loved it then I read it and was captured by its wonderful essence."

(Sketches from the) AWP 2015.

Kicked off yesterday with best panel of day with @annamarch, @WendyCOrtiz, @meganstielstra, and @BenTanzer. Hope today's is 1/2 as good.
— Susan Lerner (@susanlitelerner) April 10, 2015

#ff #babecity residents @silverbackedG @JDaugherty1081 @dreamingauze @notsolinear @geatland @eshonkwiler @wyllinois @BenTanzer @joelhans
— Lockjaw Magazine (@lockjawmag) April 10, 2015

Men's Health asked us to revisit "The Penis Stories" from Lost in Space and having accepted the challenge, we chose to talk fathering, penis size, and swagger.

So please do enjoy it. Excerpt? Word.

"Like any parent, I'm terrified that I'll fail my kids in ways I can’t even contemplate yet. And also in ways I can entirely contemplate but also might be aspects of life I never really understood in the first place, which is just as terrifying.

For instance, I'm pretty sure it's my job as a father to teach my sons how to act like they have the biggest dick in the room, even when they do not. If my sons just had the biggest dicks in the first place, it would save me some work and anxiety.

When I was barely older than my oldest son is now, I was on the high school wrestling team and there was a senior named Donald whose penis was at least a foot long, soft.

Donald would sit in the locker room naked. Holding his penis in one hand, he would casually swing it back and forth as he held court and expounded on life in all of its myriad complications.

I would sit there, mesmerized, and it’s even quite possible that he hypnotized me.

It’s also quite possible that Donald's enormous schlong did him no favors, and he's no more the CEO of Fortune 500 company than I am. But hell if he wasn’t the most confident guy in a room full of confident guys."

Lost in Space is 31st International Symposium on Child Abuse, yo.

"Tanzer's greatest accomplishment are his vacillations between humor and heartache." Lost in Space. And with much appreciation to the Los Angeles Review and the B.J. Hollars.

"This clever collection will make any short story reader sit up and take notice." All Post, all of the time.

It is just that kind of week. Excerpt? Word.

"Star Wars, parenting, movies, television and pop culture galore. This clever collection will make any short story reader sit up and take notice."

That time there was Towers by way of Gigantic Sequins hence by extention Lost in Space Twitter love.

New/old @GIGANTICsequins featuring writers I follow on twitter: hello, @dougpaulcase and @LeesaCrossSmith #amreading pic.twitter.com/qqIzsUt2NM

— Elizabeth Alphonse (@bethalphonse) February 14, 2015

@GIGANTICsequins @dougpaulcase @LeesaCrossSmith The opening line to the collection: "We meet cute." You could say I'm in love. @BenTanzer

— Elizabeth Alphonse (@bethalphonse) February 14, 2015

We get lost with the Steph Post.

And most appreciative we are for that. Excerpt? Word.

SP: Finally, in "The Darth Vader Interlude: Dads Who Rock and Those Who Kind of Suck Ass," Darth Vader is listed as your number one "suck-ass" dad. Considering Vader is my favorite Star Wars character of all time and was one of my first crushes (yes, I just admitted that), I have to ask you to go into more detail here. Yes, there was the hand-cutting-off part and the turning Luke over the to the Emperor part, but didn't Darth Vader sort of redeem himself in the end?

BT: I'm sort of stuck on the fact that you had a crush on him. And yes, his suck-assedness has nothing to do with his general awesomeness, or his redemption arc, which is nice. But Vader is most definitely an absentee dad, and not much of a listener, and if you can't at least manage those things, and then you cut your kid's arm off as well, well, that is sort of suck-ass indeed.

SP: In conjunction with the above question, if you had to write a how-to parenting guide for Vader, what would it contain? Any tips or tricks you'd offer him?

BT: Be present, it's sort of the number one rule. And when you're there, be there, listening, not plotting total world domination, or checking your texts, or whatever. Pay attention. Breathe. Which, while Vader sort of has the breathing thing down, it's not exactly in a calming way.
I should add here, that I once wrote a piece for Untoward Magazine about Darth Vader looking back on his life as an old man and questioning whether he could have been a better father. I'm not sure reading it will further answer your question, much less change your life, but if I can't hype it here, where can I?